I don't find eagle hard to use by CAD standards - I came from "normal" apps and I'd still kill for at least an option of using the scroll wheel to, you know, scroll.
I don't doubt there are better, but for me the freeness and ubiquity are pretty hard to beat: not only the libraries, but there's so many tutorials and other advice on the net, and if a PCB place doesn't just accept a .brd file directly, there's always a can job to generate gerbers, and a drc file to make sure you comply.
And there's a native Mac version, so no messing with VMs or x-windows.
PG
Sent from my phone, anything lewd or incomprehensible is probably autocorrect and not my fault.
----- Reply message -----
From: "sheldon_mp_cooper" <
bigbazinga@...>
To: <
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Cheap prototype PCB boards
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 3:47 pm
I've used the freeware Eagle primarily because of the libraries available, but I'm open to something better if I can still have those libraries and not have the 3" x 4" board size limitation of freeware Eagle. Can you please provide links to what you feel are the best KiCAD library creation/conversion related freeware and other supplemental software for KiCAD? And on the KiCAD page, I see no mention of board size limitations. Is that correct?
Thanks.
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "tda7000" <Tda7000@...> wrote:
>
> I have tried both Eagle and KiCAD (and a couple of others) and I personally like KiCAD a lot. Not just because it's free (although that is very nice!) I just prefer how it works.
>
> The biggest complaint I can say about KiCAD is that some of the bundled parts libraries aren't that great. But there are module generators online, and 3rd party libraries to download, and you can make your own parts very easily. There are also programs to convert Eagle libraries so it's not a huge problem.
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